Good Friday, Cycle B
Sisters of St. Joseph Mother House
April 6, 2012
Sacred Trees
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
The Baobab As Tree
In a remote village in Tanzania stands a giant baobab tree.
The old tree has been completely hollowed out by the passing of the centuries.
Its roots reach deep down into the African earth. Its branches – more than 75 feet in length – stretch out to embrace the deep blue equatorial sky.
The hollow trunk is more than 60 feet in diameter.
The old tree is sacred to the village.
Ø It is their gathering place: each evening, the village shaman recounts the sacred stories of their history.
Ø It is the place where the community celebrates, with dancing and drums, the milestones of birth and marriage and death
Ø It is the place where the community offers prayers of thanksgiving for the good fortunes of the harvest.
The sacred baobab is also the community’s “birthing tree.”
Ø When a pregnant woman comes to term, she enters the hollow sanctuary of the baobab where she gives birth to her child.
Ø The sacred tree offers mother and child shelter from the heat and rain, the beauty of its large sweet-smelling flowers, and the nourishment of its seeds and fruit.
Ø Every child in the village first sees the light of day within the shelter of the old tree.
The Cross As Tree
Today, our community gathers at our sacred tree: the cross of Good Friday.
We hear the story again of how a loving God gave himself up for us on this tree; like the ancient African baobab, we are reborn within the embrace of the wood of the cross.
In and through this sacred tree, we experience the light of the resurrection.
This holy tree is
Ø Hope for our defeated beings
Ø Grace for our battered souls
Ø Sustenance for our starving spirits.
In the cross of Christ, we realize the possibilities for
Ø Healing
Ø Forgiveness
Ø Reconciliation
Ø Transformation
Ø Re-creation.
Application
The cross repulses us and shames us, confronting us with death and humiliation, with the injustice and betrayal of which we are all capable.
But the cross is also the tree of life through which we are reborn.
The tree of defeat becomes the tree of victory; where life was lost, there life will be restored.
The tree of Good Friday will blossom anew:
Ø Bringing life, not death
Ø Bringing light that shatters centuries of darkness
Ø Bringing Paradise, not destruction.
Conclusion
As Jesus’ cross becomes a means of transforming death into life, we are called on this Good Friday to use the crosses that we shoulder in our lives as vehicles for “resurrection” in the Jerusalems and Golgothas of our own time and place.
May the branches of this tree be a place of welcome and peace for all of us.
May the Holy One who gave his life on this tree be a constant source of life and love for all who come to stand in it shadow.
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